Thomas the Tank...Raven?!?! Azarath Metreon Choo Choo!

I've known about the blind bagged Thomas the Tank Engine mini-trains for a while now, and the fact that certain DC Comics characters can be found therein. But only now am I finding them in my neck of the woods. I found four of them from the 2016 Wave 3 batch this past week!

Raven! A Raven train is just absurd and I love it. This is actually a train named Belle as Raven, according to packaging.

The blind bags are not only coded (Raven is number 61) but you can also see through them pretty well by moving the train inside up to the white part of the package. So the guesswork is pretty easy to work around on these things.

Flynn as Firestrom! Firestorm is number 60.

Victor as Hawkman. Hawkman is number 62.

Rosie as Supergirl. Supergirl is number 59.

These trains are ridiculous but irresistibly fun. They're off the rails! It's neat to see the broad range of heroes and villains (well, in this case just heroes) that have been released so far. You don't see much of Raven anywhere and Firestorm doesn't get much play either.

Some DC characters have been released in multi-packs, but I think the blind bagged versions can only be found in the blind bag series and aren't duplicated in the multi-packs (and vise versa). Blind bags are $1.50 each which is a fine deal for the size and for what you get here. Go get some!

Bootleg LEGO Hawkman

Another bootleg figure included in my recent bootleg LEGO minifigure acquisition is Hawkman! Like the official LEGO version, Hawkman comes with two set of thin plastic wings. 'Wings in' and...

...'wings out.' The material in the bootleg's case at least is very thin and tends to curl up and not hold a flat form. I doubt official LEGO Hawkman wings do that but I have yet to experience them in person to confirm. Regardless, bootleg Hawkman is pretty nice for the price. Hawkman has two faces: angry and normal, and also comes with a morningstar.

Random Toy Pic :: Justice League Imaginext

Now I need to get Green Lantern to complete the team (until Imaginext creates Wonder Woman or Hawkgirl etc, that is!)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's hoping your Valentine's Day and your significant other is as awesome as mine - because mine gave me these guys!

I discovered the existence of (and immediately posted about) these new Fisher-Price Imaginext DC Super Friends Hawkman and Flash figures only ten days ago, and somehow my girlfriend was able to track them down and gave them to me yesterday - single-handedly enamoring me to her even more while also setting the bar rather high when it comes to my future toy needs ;)

I mean, I was actively looking for these guys and couldn't find them. ME! I'm the master! The guru! The pro! And I was TOTALLY out-toy-huntered on this one!

WOW, whatta woman!

I love Flash's smirk. Flash also has twisting wrists, which is a first for these Imaginext superheroes, at least on all the ones I have seen so far.

And Hawkman is looking as tough as ever. Tough AND cute! Hawkman also comes with a pretty brutal little medieval weapon. Keen.

Batman welcomes the Justice Little League's newest recruits!

Toyriffic wishes all you Toyruffians out there good luck in love, or at least good luck in finding the toys you need this Valentine's Day!

And if neither of those go your way just remember, there will be a TON of cheap chocolate on sale tomorrow.

Happy Happy Hawkman Flappy

I'm pretty sure this is the happiest Hawkman you will ever see.

Released back in 2007/2008, this Hawkman was a rather tough catch at the time.

The DC Superfriends line was coming to an end when Hawkman was announced, and Target had acquired exclusive rights to their distribution.

Well it seems someone at Target took exception to Hawkman's mace. They felt it didn't pass certain safety guidelines and was too likely to cause a kid to choke (even though the mace did pass government safety guidelines.)

This was all happening around the time Mattel was getting major flack for lead paint and other safety issues, so I'm sure there was a lot of extra nervousness floating around.

Anyways, Target decided not to sell Hawkman, and other figures in the set even had their packaging modified to show Hawkman was unavailable or canceled or however they termed it.

Here's the mace attached to this claw-grabber shield/jet sled type thingy Hawkman came with. The mace launches when you push that button up top there, and the claw grab mechanism on the flip-side grabs as you push the lever on the bottom left.

So anyways, a year or so went by and Target dropped the DC Superfriends line. Rite-Aid (in my area - maybe other stores in other areas) ended up with the line. And apparently Rite-Aid aren't as big a bunch of safety Nazis as Target, because they had no problem selling Hawkman. I don't know if there was a limited production run on Hawkman due to the original refusal to sell him, but he did make it into my hands - ironically as the only DC Superfriends figure I own! I don't even have a Batman from the line!

Here's that claw-grabbing part I mentioned earlier.

Hawkman was later released as a MattyCollector.com exclusive in a different color scheme (more Hawkworld-like) and without the mace.

But this JSA/JLA looking Hawkman is absolutely the superior of the two.

'An airshow AND a gun show! Don't ever let it be said that Hawkman doesn't deliver the goods!'

'And remember kids, a mace is a terrible thing to shove down your own throat. Now shoving it down the throats of your enemies...well that's a whole different story!'

I'm a Sweet Little Bird in a Gilded Cage...

First, a toy-collecting-public service announcement. If you have a Ross store in your town, check their (notoriously disastrous) toy section. DC Infinite Heroes 3 packs are showing up there and are selling for $4.99!

I had read this news on various toy forums but did not realize until last weekend that a my town close to me actually does have a Ross! So I went there and was lucky enough to score the Hawkman/Thanagarian warrior three pack!

At $4.99 this set is phenomenal! (Sword did not come with the set - I stole it from a Schleich knight.)

Hawkman alone is worth that price (and maybe even a bit more IMO.) I usually prefer the classic Hawkman look but I really like this barbarian take on him too.

And considering the fact that I couldn't find this set at the usually (gouging) price of $15 - $20 (depending on where you buy them...or where they shelf-warm) I was doubly excited!

The more DCIH figures I get the more I like the series. They aren't nearly as bad as many toy collectors make them out to be. The price is high (especially without accessories,) and the scale between characters isn't as consistent as it could (should) be, but I imagine that'll all adjust itself in time. In the meantime I'm just picking up the ones I can't live without...and a nice sale doesn't hurt either!

Here's one of the two Thanagarian Warrior figures that come in the set. Both are exactly the same so I only photoed one. They are also weaponless, and I added the mace myself, also taken from a Schleich knight. It looked kind of fancy and official, so it seemed appropriate for this guy.

Hawkman's wings don't move at all but are very well sculpted and surprisingly they do not tip Hawkman backwards.

The Thanagarian is a cool addition and melds the "old" with the "new" in the Hawkman mythos - one could imagine this is actually Katar Hol of Hawkworld if one wished.

Their builds are vastly different and make Hawkman look a little short in comparison, but DCIH figures have scale issues and I'm over it ;)

Hawkman's helmet is well designed and more primal than his classic superhero looking mask.

His boots are really cool too, with birdlike feet sculpted in and not just painted over.

This is a good set no matter what but at $4.99 it's phenomenal! DC Infinite Heroes need more accessories though - at least for the characters who it makes sense to have them...like Hawkman and his Thanagarian warrior pals. Good thing I have toys laying all over the place from which I can borrow.

For those keeping track, Hawkman and his cronies cause our DCIH goodguy-to-badguy ratio to soar into the stratosphere:

Infinite Heroes: 9

Infinite Villains: 1